Timișoara Palace of Culture

Theatre in Timișoara has been recorded from as far back as 1753. From 1761, plays took place at the Serbian magistrate's headquarters, on today's Gheorghe Lazăr Avenue (where the Nikolaus Lenau High School now stands), in a theatre run by Joseph Hasenhut. The auditorium had 155 seats in the stalls, 26 seats in the ground floor boxes, 26 in the boxes on the first floor, 21 in the boxes on the second floor and a balcony. A fire in 1766 destroyed the building, and it was rebuilt. Following the merging of German and Serbian magistracies in 1781, the building was used exclusively as a theatre.[1][2] The theatre building was destroyed during the siege of Timișoara of 1849 and rebuilt in 1852.[3]

The 1852 structure proved to be too small to continue hosting the theatre, so talks about constructing a new building started. At Mayor Károly Küttel's initiative, the Company for the Construction of the Theater, Redoubt Hall and Hotel in Timișoara was created in 1860, to raise funds through selling theatre boxes and accessing a bank loan. The new building would be erected inside the city walls,[4] in a place where the Barracks of the Petrovaradin Gate (also known as the Grenadiers' Barracks) were previously located.[5][6] Plans were drawn up by Ferdinand Fellner Senior's architecture firm in Vienna and were approved in 1871.[2][7][8][9][10] Fellner Sr. died the same year, and construction work began in 1872.[6][7][10] During his visit on site on 7 May 1872, Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria, agreed that the theater would bear his name.[11] From 1873, Ferdinand Fellner Senior's son of the same name, partnered with Hermann Helmer, oversaw construction by the Színház-, Hotel- és Vigadóépítő Rt (Theaters, Hotels and Entertainment Venues Builder Co.), which was completed in 1875.[2][6][7][9][10][12][13]

There were 900 seats in the theatre auditorium. The building also hosted the Kronprinz Rudolf hotel and the Redoubt dancing hall.[14] On the side of Rudolf street (now Alba Iulia street) was a café, a lecture hall, a bowling alley and a small club used mainly by card players. The total cost was 1,440,000 forints.[14] The building was formally opened on 22 September 1875, and the first play staged was a work by the leading Hungarian dramatist Ede Szigligeti.[14][15]

Before World War I

Theatre building in 1880

A fire broke out in the evening of 30 April 1880, destroying the theatre area. As the company that owned the building had been bankrupt for two years the city authorities purchased it for 150,000 florins and invested an additional 120,000 forints for renovation work, which closely followed original plans. The reopening took place on 12 December 1882. Slowly, the city bought all the theater boxes back from their owners.[15]

Theatre façade at the beginning of 20th century.

It was planned that four statues be installed on theatre's façade in dedicated niches around 10 meters above ground: Thalia, the muse of comedy; Melpomene, the muse of tragedy; Euterpe, the muse of lyric poetry; and Terpsichore, the muse of dance and choral music. Each of them weighed approximately 900 kg and measured almost 3 meters in height. At the building's opening the statues were missing; it is believed that they were sold for 200 guldens to Mathies Stein, who have used them to decorate his house in the Elisabethin neighborhood.[16] The statues appear in their niches in photographs dating from 1891 and later.[17]

A massive restoration project was carried out in 1890. Interior furniture was refurbished by carpenter Ferenc Gungl, the main hall was gilded by Jenő Sprang, and sculptures were repaired by Alajos Heine. The heating system was upgraded, and the toilet facilities were upgraded. An electric motor was installed for the iron front curtain, which was an innovation in itself, serving as an anti-incendiary mechanism by containing fire; at the time fires in theaters usually originated from the stage. Additionally, two water pools were built, and the roof was repaired.[18]

After World War I

The first Romanian language performance – a translation of one of Otto Ernst's works – was performed on 7 August 1919 by a group of artists from Craiova.[19]

On 31 October 1920, another fire broke out. It was more powerful than the one of 1880 and took several days to extinguish. The main building was completely destroyed. The iron front curtain could not be lowered, which fuelled theories that foul play may have been involved.[18][20]

Rebuilt façade, between 1928 and 1935

Due to the difficult circumstances in Romania in the aftermath World War I the restoration of the building dragged on. It began on 15 July 1923, when architect Duiliu Marcu was entrusted with drawing up plans.[21] King Ferdinand laid the foundation stone of the reconstruction on 12 November 1923. Marcu did not drastically alter the façade of the building, although the main entrance was widened by abandoning the three separate doors and demolishing the pillars between them and a console canopy was provided above the entrance. A half-dome was provided on the roof, covering a concrete basin containing water for firefighting purposes. The pool was separated from the main hall by a strong concrete wall.[5][7] In order to increase the capacity of the main hall, 23 rooms were taken from the former Kronprinz Rudolf hotel (at that time Hotel Ferdinand). Following the reorganization, the number of seats in the auditorium reached 982.[21] The theatre, now named the "Communal Theatre",[22] reopened on 15 January 1928 with the show "Red Roses" by Zaharia Bârsan.[2] The name "Palace of Culture" dates back to the 1930s when the building housed the Banat Museum (between 1937–1951[9]), the Academy of Fine Arts, and the Banat–Crișana Social Institute, as well as the theatre.[23]

The appearance of the façade between 1936–2003

At the beginning of the 20th century nearby buildings included Lloyd's Palace (built in 1910), Löffler's Palace (1912), palaces on the nearby "Corso"[24] and, most notably, immediately to its right, the Palace of Banatian Banks (1932).[25] All these buildings were taller than the theatre, which was the focus of the view down Ferdinand Boulevard, so it was felt necessary to update its façade. This was again entrusted to Duiliu Marcu, who raised the façade by placing a travertine-clad "triumphal arch" around the entrance and the balcony on the first floor.[5][6][26][27][28] In order to standardize the style of the façade, the windows on the sides of the arch were blocked up.[26] The cost of the change was 2.66 million lei.[28]

In the 1970s, on the corner on Mărășești and Victor Vlad Delamarina str., a building in the modern post-war style was built following a project by architect Tiberiu Selegian, which housed the theater's warehouses.[29] In 2003 the sides of the main façade regained their initial appearance[6][23] in a restoration project managed by architect Marcela Titz.[2][7][9][30]

The style of Fellner & Helmer's project was historicist eclecticism, with classicist and Baroque Revival elements, a style known at the time as "Italian Renaissance".[2][7][9] The original version of the façade was characterized by the entrance with three arched openings and a sloping roof.[26] Inside, the auditorium offered about 900 seats and was decorated with caryatids.[28] The ceiling was decorated with four paintings each inscribed in a circle, made by Heinrich Schwemminger of Vienna, representing the muses Melpomene, Thalia, Eutherpe and Terpsichora.[31]

After the fire of 1920, except for the front doors, the façade was restored in its original style. The auditorium was enlarged by recovering the space of the 23 rooms that had belonged to the Ferdinand Hotel, bringing the seat number to 982. The interior of the theater has been completely rebuilt in Romanian Revival style, eclectic, with Byzantine Revival and Art Deco ornaments.[2][5][7][9] The ceiling was decorated with frescoes made in 1926[29] by Theodor Kiriakoff-Suruceanu who reproduced characters from the history and fairy tales of the Romanian people.[12]

There are three performance halls in the building. The main hall, known as the "Great Hall", has a capacity of 722 seats: 330 in the stall, 107 in the lodges, 40 on the first balcony (in front of the lodges), 160 on the second balcony (above the lodges) and 85 in the gallery. Of these, 686 places are on tickets, 7 places are reserved for staff and 29 spare.[32] There is a standing zone in the gallery, so the capacity of the hall is 982 spectators. Stage dimensions are 23 × 13 m.[21] An Ovidius quote is displayed mon the central lodge: "Ars ultimam mores animumque effingere poset, pulchrior in terris nulla tabella foret. Si bene quid facias, cito fac; nam si cito factum, gratum erit, ingratum gratia tarda facit. Si vox est, canta; si mollia brachia, salta; et quaqumque potes arte placere, place: Ovidius"[33] (If art could depict the manners and the soul, no painting would be more beautiful on earth. If you do something right, do it quickly, because if it is done quickly, it will be pleasant; late gratitude produces dissatisfaction. If you have a voice, sing; if you have tender limbs, dance, and through any art, if you can produce pleasure, produce: Ovidius)

The "Redoubt" Hall has a capacity of 126 seats[34] and has facilities for translating the shows in Hungarian and German.[35]

"Uțu Strugari" Studio Hall (former "Studio 5")[36] is located on the third floor, and has a capacity of 50 seats.[37]

In addition to the visits of the two sovereigns, Franz Joseph and Ferdinand, various historical events took place in the building:

• On 31 October 1918, after Otto Roth had declared in the Great Hall of the Military Casino in front of the officers summoned there the establishment of the Banat Republic and the attachment for the new Hungarian government, Aurel Cosma went up to the rostrum and declared that the Romanians would not comply with the Budapest directives and asked the Romanian officers to leave the hall. They went to the "Kronprinz Rudolf" restaurant, where they formed the Romanian National Military Council, to militate for the union of Banat with Romania.[41][42]

• In 1940, refugee National Theatre and Romanian Opera of Cluj were temporarily housed here.[33]

• On 20 December 1989, the Romanian Democratic Front was established here, and on that day on theatre's balcony Timișoara was declared free from communism.[5][6][12][43]

The building is registered as a historic monument with the LMI code TM-II-m-A-06118.[44]

The following entities are active in the building today: Romanian National Opera, "Mihai Eminescu" National Theatre, "Csiky Gergely" Hungarian State Theatre, and German State Theatre. The Opera and the Romanian theater organize their shows in the Great Hall, and the theaters in Hungarian and German use the Redoubt Hall.[12][34][45]

The building also houses the urban planing workshop-exhibition,[23][46] the tourist information center of the Timișoara City Hall and various shops.[23]

In 2019 renovations of the façade started as preparations for Timișoara being one of European Capital of Culture cities in 2023. The cost of the renovation is about 4.66 million lei. Although it is owned by the town hall, the body does not have the necessary funds for a complete rehabilitation of this symbolic building.[40][47][48][49][50]

• Ilieșiu, Nicolae (2006). Timișoara: Monografie istorică [Timișoara: Historical Monograph] (in Romanian) (2^th ed.). Timișoara: Planetarium. ISBN 978-973-97327-8-9.
• Miklósik, Elena (2002). "Contribuții la istoria clădirii teatrului („nou") din Timișoara" [Contributions to the History of the ("New") Theater Building in Timisoara] (PDF). Patrimonium Banaticum (in Romanian) (I): 215–228. ISBN 973-86020-7-6.
• Delesega, Gyula (2003). Temesvári kalauz téridőben [Timișoara guide in space time] (PDF) (in Hungarian). Timișoara: Marineasa. ISBN 973-631-047-7.
• Opriș, Mihai; Botescu, Mihai (2014). Arhitectura istorică din Timișoara [The Historical Architecture of Timișoara] (in Romanian). Timișoara: Tempus. ISBN 978-973-1958-28-6.
• Timișoara City Hall. "Strategia culturală a municipiului Timișoara 2014–2024" [The Cultural Strategy of the Municipality of Timișoara 2014–2024] (PDF). www.primariatm.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 2022-04-09.

• Media related to National Theatre and Opera Timișoara at Wikimedia Commons